


An Avenger's Christmas

by FawnoftheWoods



Series: Not Alone Anymore [12]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Domestic Avengers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluffyfest, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 06:26:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13071021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FawnoftheWoods/pseuds/FawnoftheWoods
Summary: The first Christmas with the Team.  The first Christmas many of them have every tried to seriously celebrate with family.





	An Avenger's Christmas

Tony blinked as he entered the main level of the avenger’s living quarters.  There hadn’t been all this paper everywhere when he left.  He glanced about a few more times, before he located scissors and a table that seemed to be the origin of the strange confetti that covered the room.  Glancing up at the vent directly above the table he sighed and wondered what prank Clint was pulling this time.

“Whatever it is, if you delay me this afternoon, you will have Pepper to answer to.”  He warned the vent inhabitor before grabbing his coffee to retreat to the lab and finish his project for SI.  

As he worked on the new phone wiring for Thor, he noted the date and had JARVIS make arrangements for the next day.

000

Bruce hummed quietly as he waited for the test to heat.  He was working on a personal project, since Tony said he was busy for the next few days.  He glanced in the fridge as he grabbed his leftover sandwich to see a bag of beets.  Since he did much of the cooking, and had never seen beets in this fridge, he simply blinked at them a moment.  The whistle of his kettle drew him away and he left with his tea wondering who would cook with beets?

000

Thor huffed in satisfaction as he set the large log next to the fireplace.  Tony had said that the fireplace could be used to burn wood, even though he currently used electricity.  Thor grinned and gathered the ash branches he had collected and the twine.  Glancing to one side, he saw Steve easel standing out and he wondered what had caught his friend’s eye this time.  He hoped he got to see it.

000

Natasha groaned as she stormed out of the kitchen after a fourth attempt.  She was tempted to go to Bruce, but she talked herself out of it again.  She wanted to be able to do this one thing by herself.  She growled at JARVIS who asked for the 3 rd time if he could assist her.

“Why don’t you go bug Tony?”  The AI simply chuckled and said Sir was completing a very important project right now.

000

Steve stretched and stood to wander the floor.  He needed a break.  He was almost done, though he wasn’t sure it would go over well. In the common room, he glanced at the lighted tree.  The lights had turned on automatically as the sun had set.  Frowning at it, he wondered what had happened to all those fancy bulbs that had been hanging on the tree.  Shrugging, he turned and headed back into his room, he should be done in another hour or two.

000

Clint poked his head out of the vent and glanced around.  The Christmas tree Pepper had ordered stood lit in the corner with perfectly matched greens and reds.  He carefully landed with his prizes and started at one end of the room and walked to the other.

Hearing a crunch, he glanced down to find the floor covered in twigs.  Looking around to see if he had been heard, he sighed when all was still.  Spotting the large pile of branches in the corner, he wondered what Thor was doing with them.  He had watched as the god had brought them into the tower yesterday, but he had gotten distracted by Natasha in the kitchen muttering to her self.

He quickly finished his task and scurried back up the vent to his nest for the night.

000

Tony bit his lip as he tried to tip toe into the common room.  He knew stealth wasn’t really his thing, but he tried.  He really didn’t want to explain to anyone what he was doing.  He knelt next to the tree and set the brightly, and badly, wrapped packages under the tree.  He had almost given up and just bought them something, if only so someone who knew how to wrap a present would wrap them.  The sun was peaking so he knew he should leave soon.  He didn’t want to ruin their holiday.

He had turned to leave when a flash caught his eye.  Glancing at the tree, he realized that those garish bulbs Pepper’s designer had put on the tree were gone.  They had been replaced with new ornaments.  There were a few clear bulbs.  Inside each was a head shot of an avenger.  He found a couple of burned pieces of doom bots and other mechanical trophies that were used as backing for images of the Avengers.  Some were easily recognizable from news articles, but many were from inside this building.  There was the squirt gun fight Clint and Tony had started accidentally with Natasha.  And the assassin’s first cake she had baked.  There was the picture when Steve and Thor had tried to run the kitchen for a meal.  Tony chuckled softly as each picture but what had him unmoving was that he was present in many of them.  

He was there laughing and smiling and having fun and so were they.  Tony felt himself fall to his knees as he stared at the Squirt gun war.  The picture was obviously from JARVIS’s archives from the angle, but Tony and Clint were ambushing Tasha and Steve while Thor played decoy and Bruce was winding up a water balloon to throw.  He hadn’t noticed it at the time, since he was in the middle of getting soaked, but everyone was laughing.  They were all wet, even him, and acting silly and laughing.

Clint had his back to Tony, Natasha was holding her hand in the way of his spray, Steve was ducking away from Clint and dropping his gun, Bruce was yelling about to soak Tony and Clint with a balloon and Thor had a shit-eating grin as he pretended to run from Tasha and Steve.  They were all trusting him.  He glanced at the presents he had worked hard at the last eight days.  Maybe they would be okay to open them.

“Tony?”  Tony quickly blinked hard, turning from the voice.  He hadn’t expected Bruce to be here yet.

“Nothing.  Just placing some-  I mean just looking.”  He felt gentle hands on his shoulders.  Bruce was the closest Avenger to him.  He looked at the picture again.

“I was hoping you would like them.”  Tony sniffed subtly and let his finger gently touch the picture again.

“Best decoration I’ve ever seen.”  He glanced at Bruce who smiled at him, clearly embarrassed as he looked down and started to rub his neck.

“Yeah, well those other bulbs were a bit gaudy for me.  My mom and I used to do this.  I just thought-“

Tony wrapped him in a hug.  It stopped his rambling and he just leaned into the embrace.  “Thanks”

They turned when they heard a clink and Natasha walked in carefully balancing a tray of mugs.  Bruce scrambled to help her and she nodded.  Tony glanced at it suspiciously.  She handed him one.

“Its Sbiten.”  Bruce seemed to understand what that was, but Tony was clueless.  Still, when the Black Widow glares at you to try something, they had all learned to try it.  He gave the hot drink a cautious sip before grinning.

“Sweet!  Not coffee, but it’ll do for today.”  Tony saw Tasha’s shoulder’s relax as he took another drink of the sweet brew.  Bruce was quietly drinking his with a smile.  “Tony grinned and then lay an arm around Tasha.

“Come, Bruce made the tree better.”  Natasha grinned as she looked at the pictures.  Bruce glanced around with a frown.

“The pictures are mine, but the snowflakes aren’t.”  All around the room were snowflakes hung up and folded.  Tony blinked in confusion.  Bruce plucked one off the lamp and unfolded it.

“Give a hug.”  Tony looked at him in confusion as did Natasha for a moment before she blinked and smiled.

“Come on down here Clint.”  Tony and Bruce watched in amazement as the bashful archer dropped out of the vent.  He was rubbing his hair shyly.  Tony glanced at the man in question.  “Give a hug?”  Clint shrugged.

“The only family in the circus used to do that.”  They continued to look clueless.  “They didn’t really have money for gifts, so each member would write something they wanted to receive on a few snowflakes and they would be hung around the tent.  Then the entire family would take turn grabbing one and giving the request to a family member.  They were anonymous for fun.”  Clint looked even more sheepish, if possible.  “I saw them do it a few times.”

Tony glanced at Natasha, remembering what he had read in the classified files he had gotten from SHIELD and the additional information he had obtained later about Clint’s own history in the circus.  It was doubtful the archer ever celebrated Christmas as a kid, but he apparently did watch others celebrating.

Bruce folded the snowflake back up and glanced at Clint as the archer started stuttering about how he had just made up a bunch of silly or fun actions for the snowflakes.  He was in the middle of telling them he just thought they looked cool when Bruce swept him into a hug.

“It said give a hug.”  

Clint seemed to freeze in the hug, but Bruce let go easily with a smile.  Clint grinned back, still blushing.

“Sounds like a fun tradition!”  They glanced over to see Thor and Steve standing in the doorway.  Thor had spoken with a grin and Steve was smiling happily next to him.  Thor bound over and gently detached a snowflake from an armchair as Steve walked more sedately into the room.

“Carry someone on your shoulders.” Thor looked around, grinning brightly and Tony saw the moment he decided on him.  “Whoa now, just a moment oooF!”  Thor lifted the light man easily onto his shoulders and Tony quickly ducked under the ceiling light.  Thor seemed to realize this and knelt down on his knees.  This of course made Tony taller than everyone else, but only just.  They were all laughing, some quietly like Tasha, and some were rolling on the ground, *cough* Clint *cough*.

“Okay, point break.  Now you can put me down.”  Steve chuckled.

“Yeah, we need to have breakfast.”  Thor rumbled under him as Tony was gently lifted and set on the chair to the table.  Natasha had covered the table in 12 large bowls of food, only half of which Tony recognized.  He saw Steve duck over to the tree and place a stack of manilla envelopes under it branches before joining them.  

“In Russia its customary to eat 12 dishes on Christmas eve and Christmas day for the apostles.”  Natasha glanced over the dishes.  “I decided 12 each meal would work well.”

The dishes were more or less tasty.  She had missed the beat on a few, but her borscht was amazing.  Bruce was discussing the recipe with her as they cleaned up.

000

They spent much of the day laughing as they took turns with Clint’s snowflakes and Thor started the Yule log on fire.  He had found nearly a thousand candles that they all lit from the slowly burning log.  It had ash branches tied to it and it was covered in a few chemicals courtesy of Jane.  It gave off a few different colors and they enjoyed the show.

It was later in the evening when Clint, Natasha and Steve had said good night and Thor was on the roof, seemingly communing with his mother that Bruce found Tony standing in front of the tree.

“Hey.”  Tony didn’t flinch.  He was staring at his gifts sitting under the tree.

“No one wanted them.”  

Bruce glanced at the gifts in confusion.   “Its only Christmas Eve, Tony.  Presents are for Christmas morning.”  

“Really?”  Tony glanced at him in confusion.

Bruce nodded with a frown.   “I used to beg my mother to let open at least one the night before.  She always would laugh and remind me to wait for Santa Claus.”  Tony gave him a rather brittle looking grin.

“Sounds like fun.”  

Bruce frowned and looked at Tony again.   “Did you have any Christmas traditions growing up?”  

“Sure.  My gifts would be delivered to my room the morning of Christmas Eve.  I would eat breakfast while I opened them.  After lunch I would meet with my parents to thank them and to greet the guests.  The tree in the main hall would have professionally wrapped boxes underneath.  Occasionally a guest would bring a present that Mother would put under the tree.  Dad would open it at some point and thank them.  The next morning any guest that stayed the night would eat breakfast with my parents and then Mother and her friends would head to the club for lunch party and Dad would head to the gentleman’s club.  I would have joined him when I turned 21, but…”  Tony shrugged, completely missing the look of concern on Bruce’s face.

“So, you didn’t open your gifts with your parents?  Or eat with them on Christmas?”  Tony shrugged, slightly more self-consciously now that Bruce seemed to be actually paying attention.  “What about the gifts from Santa?”  

Tony snorted.

“Bruce, I don’t remember  _ ever _ getting any gifts from Santa.”  Tony glanced at the gifts he had set out again.  “Pepper and Rhodey are the only people I’ve ever given a Christmas gift to successfully and they were both given gift cards so, I wasn’t sure when to place the gifts under the tree.”  

Bruce could see him becoming uncomfortable as he worked up to his question.  Bruce recognized this behavior from when Tony didn’t know something he thought he should know.  It also explained the wrapping job.  Bruce smiled and leaned against his best friend.

“As long as they made it before Christmas Morning, you’re good.”  Bruce nudged Tony towards their bedrooms.  “Maybe Santa will come this year.”  Tony snorted as he let himself be led to his bedroom.  

“Bruce, I don’t believe in Santa.”  Behind him neither of them saw Steve sit on the couch.  

His face was frozen in horror.  He had known Tony hadn’t been the happiest of children, both Bruce and Tony had mentioned it in passing that Howard had in fact turned out to be a crappy parent.  But to not have Santa as a child, no Christmas except as a part of Stark Industries was beyond his understanding.  He glanced at the gifts Tony had set down.  Usually at a party Tony set the tone.  He was so experienced that the entire group let him lead in that type of venue.  But all day, he had stayed back and watched like a hawk.  Now Steve understood why.  He hadn’t ever had a true Christmas.

He grinned, this he could do something about.

“Hey JARVIS, connect me to Clint a moment.

000

Tony woke with a start and was blinking rapidly at the archer currently crouched on his bed.  “Why are you in my room as…WTF its 7 am!  Why are you waking me at 7AM in the freaking morning?”  

“Its Christmas morning!”  Clint grinned.

 

“Aaaaaaaaand?” Tony blinked at him in utter confusion, but Clint just rolled his eyes.

“Come on, you’re the last one up!”  

Tony grumbled under his breath.   “I’m always the last one up, never bothered you before.”  Clint hadn’t moved, simply watching as Tony ambled towards his robe.

“It matters on Christmas, since we can’t open presents til everyone’s up.  Come on.”  Tony blinked at him as his brain finally engaged as much as it was going to without coffee.  Clint was bouncing on his toes near the door.

“You guys don’t need to wait for me.”  

Clint rolled his eyes again, this time with a huff.   “Come oooonn!  Come onComeonComeon.  Coooommmmme oooonnnn.”  Tony let himself be dragged down the hallway by the hyper archer.  He stopped dead at the entrance to the common room though.

The room had changed overnight.  There was popcorn on string hanging on everything and candy canes peaked out from nooks and crannies.  A cheerful newspaper angel was on the top of the tree, painted white and the yule log was currently burning yellow and green flames merrily.

“Try this.  It’ll help.”  Tony glanced at Bruce as the man handed him a mug.  With coffee, Bruce was a god!  Tony took a long sip as Clint went to help Tasha bring in a few bowls of fruit and some sort of bacon wrapped meat.  Steve was standing next to Thor when he had entered, but quickly walked over.

“I hope you don’t mind.”  He was shuffling his feet and Tony abruptly remembered the pre-serum picture he had once seen.  “My mom always had Santa decorate after I went to bed Christmas eve.”  Tony stared at him.

“Okay, we are all here, now presents time!”  Clint hopped over the couch to crouch next to the tree that had more presents than Tony had placed there.  Natasha obligingly followed her longtime partner and sat on the overstuffed chair.  

“How does the present opening ceremony happen, Friend Clint?”  Thor was watching with amusement.  Clint grinned.

“Easy, we all pick a spot, then I hand out the presents, then we all open them one at a time.”  

“Sound splendid.  I shall choose next to the Yule, so I may tend to it as it burns.”  Thor grinned.  Steve waved at Tony and Bruce as he too joined them and Clint started handing out gifts.  Tony blinked as he was soon surrounded by a pile of a dozen gifts.  He blinked in confusion.

“Why so many?  There are only six of us?”  The other grinned.  Steve grabbed his first present.

“We shall see.”  He opened and pulled out a “Cooking for Dummies” book.  He snorted.  “Gee, thanks Clint.”  The archer smiled unrepentantly and grabbed his first gift.

“Let’s see.”  Clint opened a small box to see fancy looking gold scope.  He looked at Thor, puzzled.  Thor grinned.

“Hold it to your eye, and move your finger along the crystal.  It can see a Janam at the height of a great hawk herself.  Jane tells me that is like seeing a mouse across two football fields.”  Clint grinned, excited by the new scope.  He gestured to Thor as he started to play with the Asgardian gadget.

Thor opened a box of Fudge from Bruce and then declared the delicacy to be far worthy of the might of the throne room.  Bruce smiled as he opened a gift from Natasha, an expanding wrist taser.  She smiled and winked with a “just in case”.

Natasha was the first to open one of the envelopes from Steve.  Tony whistled at the drawing of her in battle, Hulk and Steve were fighting behind her.  Iron man was above them raining fire down and Thor was hammering at an enemy.  They could see a small Hawkeye in a roof a few blocks back.  Tony glanced at he to comment when the look on her face stopped him.  Her eyes were glassy as she stared at the back.  She set it down and wrapped Steve in a hug.  Tony stood enough to see a drawing of Tasha in the kitchen with Bruce, cooking dinner possibly.  Bruce and Tasha were smiling and mixing something.  Steve and Thor were sitting at the table with a fork and knife in hand, Tony was leaning in the door in curiosity and Clint was attempting to sneak a taste of something on the counter.  They were all smiling.  The caption said “The biggest challenge in life is to be yourself.”

Steve hugged her back with a smile and nodded at her as he picked up Tony’s gift.  Tony held his breath as Steve opened the box and looked at the pair of gauntlets.  He glanced at Tony in curiosity.

“Each gauntlet is paired with the disk that adheres to your shield.  Your thumb print removes it.  The blue back will show you which direction your shield is and if close enough, summon it to your wrist.  Not quite as effective as Thor’s telepathy, but close.  I also adapted the widow’s bite charge on the end of each gauntlet to give your punches more of a kick if you want.”  Steve had one on and was fiddling with it as Tony explained.  

“Awesome!  It’s perfect, thanks Tony.”  He grinned widely.  Tony nodded, taking a drink of his coffee.  He grabbed his first present from Bruce.  It was a homemade magic eight ball, made from a volumetric flask.  He grinned when the first answer popped up, “Science Bros are always right.”

Bruce grinned at the laugh from Tony and groan from Clint and Steve.  They continued to go around this way.  Bruce had gotten Steve a watercolor pencil set for use on skin, Clint an enormous rug that looked handmade, and Tasha a cook book.  Thor’s gifts were of Asgard, a bladed hair piece for Tasha, an Asgardian cookbook he said his mother recommended for Bruce, it would have to be translated since it wasn’t in English, a weighted training set for Steve, though it needed some explaining and a fur blanket for Tony that was bigger than twice his California king.

Tony looked forward to snuggling inside it on cold days.  He had it piled around him as he watched everyone open gifts.  Clint had found a book on top 100 science pranks to give to Tony, a exercise monitor watch for Bruce, to monitor his vitals for him, and a mini translater for Thor hooked to urban dictionary.  Tony had approved of the exercise watch since it also had a GPS so they could track the wayward scientist.

Natasha had gone practical and given Tony a drive with a list of industrial secrets she thought he should know, Steve a leg knife and Thor a large knife that enthralled the godling.  Clint’s gift from Tasha and Tasha’s gift to Clint were opened at the same time, apparently a tradition.  Each got two gifts.  A small wrist locket that had picture locations and Clint got a new sight and Tasha a new utility belt.

Tony had also received a pen from Pepper that said “All you need is your name, everything else is just part of the adventure.”  It came with a note that he had better use the thing or else.  Rhodey had sent along a Disney movie called “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”  With a note telling him not to get too many ideas.  Fury had given all of them a picture album and a request to keep JARVIS out of his alert system, he knew about the damn holiday.  

Tony had been very nervous giving the presents.  He had thoughts hard about them.  Bruce was easy, a new Hulk expanding suit.  He had been working on it for weeks.  Natasha’s was easy also, he redesigned her suit with a new material that was more protective and less stiff.  He offered to add pouches, but Tasha said she was happy with the three hidden pouches.  Thor took some work, but he may had found a way to send a message to and from Asgard.  They would have to test and tweak it a bit, but the concept was there.  Clint was the hardest.  As the other resident prankster, he had wanted to do something fun, but also helpful.  He had finally designed a new holster on the same basic design as the first one, but with another row of arrow head storage.    He also added a few traps if someone besides Clint tried to open it.  He had left the new arrow storage empty and had instead placed a stuffed monkey in it.  Clint had stared at it for several minute before figuring out it was a slingshot.  Which he promptly shot at Steve.  The second the monkey left his hands it started screaming and the whole room rolled in laughter.

Steve pictures were a hit.  Each picture had a battle scene on one side and a domestic scene on the other.  Thor was ecstatic that Steve had caught him trying to turn on the TV.  Bruce’s was in the kitchen, much like Tasha’s and Clint wouldn’t show anyone his.  Each had a caption.  Thor’s said, “Life is more fun when treated like a scavenger hunt.”  Bruce’s was, “Nothing brings people together like good food.”  Tony had been a bit timid when opening his, but his battle scene was impressive with him and Steve working together in a squad of enemies.  The back had a picture of him in his workshop.  He was kneeling in front of DUM-E with a finger out, obviously scolding the bot about something, likely the mess next to him.  Tony could see how happy and fond he looked.  Bruce was in the corner with a flask and talking to JARVIS.  Clint's head was poking out of the ceiling and Natasha and Steve were just outside the door watching as Thor looked around through the glass wall.  They were all smiling too.  Tony loved it.  It said, “Family is not about Blood.”

000

The rest of Christmas went well.  Tony did his calls to Pepper and Rhodey, who were not in the States this year.  Thor called Jane and they spoke for a while also.  Bruce helped Natasha make 12 dishes for dinner and Steve pulled out carols until they decided to end with watching Miracle on 34 th St, since Tony had never seen it.

Somewhere near the end of the movie, Steve moved next to Tony.

“Do you believe in Santa now?”  Tony whipped his head to look at him, realizing the soldier must have heard him last night.  He sighed

“Look, It was a great day.  Don’t ruin it by bringing up the past.”  Steve shook his head.

“The past is the reason it was so special.  I’m from the depression, and Bruce from an equally poor background so we remember the fun of Christmas.  I doubt Natasha had ever even considered celebrating it til Clint found her, and Clint’s experience as a child is closer to the never being invited feeling than cheery.  Thor is the only one used to good family and good celebration.”  Steve looked back at Tony.  “You missed the true meaning of Santa, growing up.  I could strangle Howard.”  Tony scoffed and looked away from his team leader.  Steve smiled sadly.

“Santa isn’t just an elf that we tell kids.  He’s a love of magic and mystery that we are given.  It’s the one time where much of the world agrees that peace truly is better.  That magic is Santa’s true self.”  Steve smiled as Tony just stared at him.  

“That was so sappy.”  Steve snorted.

“I’m allowed, its Christmas.”  Tony looked at the rest of the team as they watched Suzie run around a house.  Steve returned to his seat to see the ending, so he almost missed Tony’s reply.

“Christmas, uh.  Fine, I’ll believe in hokey magic for 24 hours every year.”  Tony settled into his blanket smiling.

Outside the snow fell and the entire city sounded musical in the spirit of a holiday, no matter which one they were celebrating.

And somewhere in the clouds, a magical man with a white beard smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to pull traditions from each of their cultures. Thor was the only one who probably knew nothing of Christmas, so I grabbed a winter tradition for him.
> 
> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all, no matter who you are, where you will be and what traditions/holidays you are celebrating!


End file.
